New York. The United Nations (UN) on Monday denounced the “inadmissible” violence that caused the death of 280 humanitarian workers in 2023, a record driven by the war in Gaza and which threatens to be surpassed in 2024.
“The normalisation of violence against humanitarian workers and the fact that no one pays for it is unacceptable, unacceptable and extremely dangerous for humanitarian operations around the world,” said Joyce Msuya, acting head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in a statement on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day.
“Dear world leaders, what more is needed for you to do something?” he said.
“In Gaza, Sudan and many other places, humanitarian workers are being attacked, killed, injured and kidnapped. We demand an end to impunity so that those responsible are held accountable,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter.
“2023 was the deadliest year for humanitarian workers on record. Honouring them on World Humanitarian Day is not enough,” he insisted.
According to the Aid Worker Security Database, 280 workers lost their lives in 33 countries last year.
This is 137 percent more than in 2022 (118 killed), OCHA said in a statement, using figures from the Aid Worker Security Database, a database created in 1997.
More than half of these deaths (163) were recorded in Gaza during the first three months of the war between Israel and Hamas, mainly in air strikes.
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– 2024-08-25 18:17:11
